QATAR: IUS Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad has held talks with the Taliban political representatives in Qatar on ways to accelerate release of prisoners, start of the intra-Afghan dialogue and the full implementation of the agreement, Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen said on Thursday.

Taliban insist the US has not fulfilled its commitment to secure release of 5000 Taliban prisoners in accordance with their agreement signed in late February. They also accuse the US of violating the agreement by carrying out attacks on the Taliban positions.

Taliban had refused to take part in the intra-Afghan dialogue unless their 5000 prisoners are freed. The talks were scheduled to start on March 10.

Afghan government said on Thursday that a total of 933 Taliban prisoners have been released so far. A government spokesman Javid Faisal said 1,500 Taliban prisoners will be released in the coming days.

More can be released upon the start of the talks, Faisal said and urged the Taliban to resume release of Afghan security personnel off the list the government has shared.

Khalilzad has held talks with the Taliban political chief Abdul Ghani Baradar in the presence of Qatari Special Envoy for Counterterrorism and Mediation in Conflict Resolution Dr. Mutlaq al-Qahtani, according to Shaheen.

It is Khalilzad’s second meeting with the Taliban in less than a month amid a stalemate in the peace process as the Taliban have refused to join the talks involving Afghan leaders to decide a future political roadmap.

Earlier the State Department said ambassador Khalilzad will press the Taliban representatives for “full implementation of the U.S.-Taliban agreement.”

A State Department statement said the US envoy will also visit Islamabad and discuss the Afghan peace process with Pakistani officials.

Sources told Daily Times Khalilzad is likely to visit Pakistan on Friday that will be his second visit to the country in nearly three weeks.

He last visited Pakistan on April 14 along with Resolute Support Mission Commander General Scott Miller and in a meeting with Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa discussed the US ongoing efforts for a sustainable peace in Afghanistan. Pakistan’s military leaders reaffirmed their support for US efforts and renewed their commitment to act to advance a political settlement to the conflict, the US embassy had stated in a statement after the previous visit.

Meanwhile, Pakistan said on Thursday that the US-Taliban peace agreement has immense value in terms of its symbolism and substance for Afghanistan, the region and beyond.

“We hope it helps bring sustainable peace and stability to Afghanistan, which can be secured through successful Intra-Afghan negotiations. We hope that the Afghan parties would seize this historic opportunity and workout a comprehensive and inclusive political settlement for durable peace and stability in Afghanistan and the region,” Foreign Office spokesperson Aisha Farooqui said at weekly briefing.

She said Pakistan has facilitated Afghan Peace Process throughout U.S-Taliban negotiations and that the country has always maintained that there is no military solution to the Afghan conflict.

“We have encouraged all parties to conflict to resolve issues through negotiations and facilitated the prisoners release as a confidence building measure. All this was undertaken as a shared responsibility to facilitate establishment of peace in Afghanistan,” she said.

The spokesperson said the U.S.-Taliban peace agreement is a historic opportunity for the Afghan leadership to seize and resolve their mutual issues through an Afghan-owned and Afghan-led peace process.

“We hope that the U.S.-Taliban deal is implemented in full which will lead to peace in Afghanistan,” she said.